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Small business

Small businesses are normally privately owned corporations, partnerships, or sole proprietorships. What businesses are defined as "small" in terms of government support and tax policy varies depending on the country and industry. Small businesses range from 15 employees under the AustralianFair Work Act 2009, 50 employees according to the definition used by the European Union, and fewer than 500 employees to qualify for many U.S. Small Business Administration programs. Small businesses can also be classified according to other methods such as sales, assets, or net profits.

Characteristics

Researchers and analysts of small or owner-managed businesses generally behave as if nominal organizational forms (e.g., partnership, sole-trader or corporation) and the consequent legal and accounting boundaries of owner-managed firms are consistently meaningful. However, owner-managers often do not delineate their behaviour to accord with the implied separation between their personal and business interests. Lenders also often contract around organizational (corporate) boundaries by seeking personal guarantees or accepting privately held assets as collateral. Because of this behaviour, researchers and analysts should reject the relevance of the organizational types and implied boundaries in many contexts relating to owner-managed firms. These include analyses that use traditional accounting disclosures, and studies that view the firm as defined by some formal organizational structure.

China Railways BJ

BJ were made in two different versions, a standard version and a kou'an (port) version. China Railways DF7D, a diesel electric locomotive based on DF7B, has a similar appearance to the Beijing locomotive.

North Korea

From 2002 the Korean State Railway has received a number of BJ class locomotives second-hand from China. They are used mostly for heavy shunting and on local freight trains around P'yŏngyang. Thirty have been delivered, numbered in the 내연301 - 내연330 series (내연 = Naeyŏn, "internal combustion"); most are still painted in their original Chinese blue livery, but a few have been repainted into the standard North Korean scheme of light blue over dark green.